President Bush makes a statement on drilling for oil on the outer
continental shelf, Monday, July 14,2008, in the Rose Garden of the
White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Oil shale is a fuel source with a low EROEI. Some have estimated it as low as 3 compared to offshore drilling that has an EROEI of about 15. We currently get 85% of our total energy from fossil fuels. We can’t change this dependency overnight, so unless we want to do without energy and suffer terrible disruptions to our economy, we will need to continue to produce fossil fuels. We should be developing our fossil fuel sources with the highest EROEI and lowest carbon load first. Hopefully, if we also develop renewable energy resources at the same time, we will never need to develop the low EROEI fossil fuel sources at all. We should be using the profits from offshore oil development to fund renewable fuel development.

George Bush is not helping energy development matters by pushing oil shale. It only gives those opposed to any development more reasons to oppose the offshore oil development. Oil shale, unlike offshore drilling, will require new and unproven technologies. The technology to drill offshore has already been developed and proven. Instead of investing in new technology for oil shale development, we should use the investment money to develop renewable energy.

George Bush just does not see global warming as a problem. His administration has done very little to address this major issue. I do not count ethanol development as helping global warming. It takes about as much energy (usually from natural gas) to produce an equivalent amount of ethanol. This is a process with a low EROEI value of about 1.0. The reason that George Bush likes ethanol is because it reduces our use of imported oil, essentially substituting natural gas. It is also a popular program with corn farmers.

I hope that the politicians in Washington can understand that we need a balanced program to solve our energy problems. Most people in the country approve of offshore drilling. If the politicians would listen to the voters we could end up with a good energy bill. George Bush is not helping matters by trying to push oil shale at this time.